


Five Times Darcy Wasn't Invited To A Stark Party

by SunnySinclair



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-19
Updated: 2016-12-19
Packaged: 2018-09-09 19:29:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8909161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunnySinclair/pseuds/SunnySinclair
Summary: And One Time Stark Threw A Party For Her





	

1\. New Years

“Damn thing,” Jane muttered as she came in to the living room, trying to get her earring in. She was wearing a short dress and actual heels, and Darcy gave a low whistle from her place on the sofa.

“Looking good Jane,” she said, setting her book aside. “Thor’s gonna have a good time looming to make sure nobody else hits on you tonight.”

With a huff, Jane got her earring sorted and rolled her eyes. “Funny, Darcy. It’s just a dress.”

“And make-up and fancy hair and boobs. “Darcy smirked at her. “Face it Janey, you’re gorgeous. That’s just your burden to bare.”

“Well, thanks.” Jane muttered awkwardly, tucking her hair behind her ear. “Wait, why aren’t you dressed?” She asked, just noticing Darcy’s slouched place on the sofa, all rugged up in jeans and an oversized sweater. “The cars going to be in here ten minutes! I know you can be fast, but nobody’s that fast.”

Darcy gave Jane an odd look and picked her book back up. “What are you talking about?”

“Stark’s New Years party,” Jane said, looking confused. “You’re not going? I would’ve thought you’d be jumping at the chance.”

“Sure,” Darcy shrugged. “But without an invite it’s kinda hard to get in. Seriously, I’ve heard stories about people who tried to gate-crash a Stark event.” She started flicking through the books pages, trying to find her place again, and propped her feet up on the coffee table.

“You weren’t invited? Oh. Well I bet if you got ready they’d let you in with Thor and me. I bet it was just an oversight on Tony’s part.”

“Thanks, but I’m good,” Darcy shrugged again. “There’s left over pizza and cupcakes. It’ll be an awesome New Years party of one.”

“Well, ok, if you’re sure. Give me a call if you change your mind though, I can make sure they’ll let you in.”

Darcy shot her a grateful smile. “Thanks Jane. Have fun, make sure you climb Thor like a tree at midnight, and don’t drink too much. You know how pissy you get when you’re trying to theorise with a hangover.”

Jane gave her a dirty look and Darcy cracked a grin and stuck her tongue out at her boss, earning a reluctant smile back. And then Jane jumped at a loud horn from outside.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Darcy shouted as Jane headed out the door, then settled back in with her book, all the amusement from her face falling off in an instant.

 

2\. Easter

“Who the hell has an Easter Brunch Party anyway?” Clint grumbled, spinning around in one of the lab chairs and tossing a ball of paper in the air again and again.

“Isn’t it some kind of fundraiser slash thank you for the Stark Industries employees?” Darcy asked, snatching the ball out of the air as she walked past.

“Maybe,” Clint mused, rubbing at his chin.

“There’s an Easter Egg hunt. For kids. It’s in a park. Doesn’t that tell you what kind of party it’s meant to be?”

“Point,” Clint conceded. “Don’t get why that means I’m meant to be going.”

“Because you’re Tony’s friend? Or maybe you’re just meant to be there to look pretty and flex your muscles. Y'know, one of those attractive centre piece things,” she snickered, tossing the paper ball at him. He gave a whine when it bounced off his forehead.

“Why Darce? Why do you have to hurt me like that?” He lamented, leaning down to swipe it back off the floor and resume tossing it in the air. “If I have to be gawked at like a sideshow act at least I can drag you in with me.”

“Nope,” Darcy said, popping the p loudly as she turned back to the computer and Jane’s notes.

“What do you mean nope?” Clint demanded, sitting up straighter. “How’d you get out of going?”

“It’s super easy to get out of things when you never get invited in the first place,” she said, eyes locked firmly on the screen.

“Aren’t you a Stark employee? That’s an automatic invite right there.”

“Nope,” Darcy repeated, shooting him a small smirk at the look on his face at that response. “I work for Jane, not Stark. Sure, she gets paid by Stark, but then she pays me… Come to think of it I don’t think HR even know I exist. Or that I’m here. That’s probably an OH&S thing right?”

“Definitely an OH&S thing,” Clint nodded. “How the hell do you even get in to the building without a pass thing? No, wait, I probably don’t want to know. Plausible deniability when Stark finds out. You should still come though.”

“I’m not the party-crashing sort. Especially fancy garden parties. Besides, what would I wear?” She sighed dramatically.

“You can be my plus one?”

“I feel a lot better about myself when I don’t accept pity dates,” she brushed him off. “Besides, if I show my face it might make Tony twig to the whole not-his-employee thing and then I’ll have to come up with a new way to break in.”

She shot Clint a wink which made him laugh, and whatever else he might have wanted to say was cut off by his phone ringing. He gave her a short wave as he put the phone to his ear and headed out of Jane’s lab, leaving Darcy to chew at her lip before sighing in annoyance at herself. It wasn’t a big deal that she didn’t earn an invite, and it didn’t matter how many mini danishes would be there, she definitely had better things to be doing with her Friday.

 

3\. Independence Day

“Darcy!” Like always, Thor was boisterous and full of enthusiasm, even when simply greeting someone. “I require your assistance.”

“Sure thing Thor, what’s up?” Darcy asked, spinning her chair around from her computer, after surreptitiously minimising the window she’d been looking at. “Wait, when did you get here?” She asked. “I didn’t hear a car.”

“I flew of course,” Thor said. “As I said, I need your assistance.”

“So you flew all the way here from the facility? Damn, you must be desperate.”

“Well, I may spend the evening with Jane, if she can be torn away from her work.”

“There it is,” Darcy grinned, not even a little put out that he had an alternate reason for visiting her. Thor looked bashful for a moment before taking a seat and pulling it over to her desk. “What’s your saying? Two birds, one stone?”

“Yeah. It’s cool, I’m not even offended,” she teased leaning forward in her seat. “So..?”

“Ah, yes. Stark is having a party for this Independence Day, although I’ve received word it is Steven’s birth day also. I don’t understand this Independence Day and wanted your advice on appropriate behaviour for the celebrations.”

“Oh. Sure, ok, well, it’s usually pretty casual. If Stark’s planning it then it’s probably going to be a blow out. Fireworks for sure. But there’ll be a lot of food, a lot of drinking, just, y'know, casual.”

“Food and drink?” He repeated, eyes lighting up. “This would be welcome. Stark’s parties do not usually provide enough of either. These finger foods your realm is so fond of baffle me.”

Darcy couldn’t hold back a laugh. “Yeah, we don’t make a lot of sense.”

“You will have to drink with me,” he announced. “A toast to good friends.”

The amusement slipped off of Darcy’s face and she shifted in her chair. “'Fraidf you’re gonna have to be drinking alone. Or, I mean, drinking with your team mates only.”

“Why?” Thor asked, brow furrowed. “Do you not wish to spend the holiday with us?”

“Would if I could bud, but I didn’t get any invitation, so alternative plans got made.”

“You didn’t receive an invite?” Thor asked, frowning. “But you are a friend and family, you have a place here.”

“Not according to the guest list,” she said gently. “No biggy. I’m gonna head home for the weekend. Tell Steve Happy Birthday for me though.”

The slightly fixed smile on her face was sign enough for the subject to be dropped, and though Thor wasn’t satisfied he didn’t push.

 

4\. Halloween

“Wow,” Steve said, coming to a stop in the middle of the hallway.

“You like?” Darcy snickered, giving a twirl to show off her costume. It was a simple enough black and white cat costume, not even that revealing, at least compared to most of the ladies costumes around, but it was figure hugging.

“I, uh, yeah, it’s good. The make-ups impressive,” Steve nodded, and Darcy grinned.

“You have no idea how many tutorial videos I had to watch. Or how hard it is to find a Mr Mistoffelees one. But we got there in the end.”

“Well, you’ll be a knock out at the party tonight. You’d be a knockout without the make-up. I mean, you look good, the costumes good, not that you don’t always look good, but, uh-”

“Breathe Steve. I accept your compliment and thanks. Only downside is how many drunk idiots are gonna ask if they can stick a collar on me, but Natasha got these awesome claw thingy’s for me, so if anyone gets too fresh I can give the prick a prick.”

“Surely no one at the party’s going to go that far? Isn’t that why Tony has such strict guest lists? And bouncers?”

“Four for you, Glen Coco, yes, from what I hear the general male behaviour at Tony’s get togethers is above board. But I’ll be at a bar in Brooklyn with the general public and nothing is going to keep men from saying gross things there.”

“Why aren’t you going to Tony’s?” Steve asked. “Wouldn’t it be easier?” He actually looked concerned and Darcy had to keep from cooing at how hurt he looked.

“It would definitely be easier, just ‘cause Thor would let me crash on his floor. But Tony didn’t deign to include me among the social elite worthy of his bash. And since I’m not exactly drowning in cash I had to look outside Manhattan for my party spot. The bar is supposed to throw an awesome Halloween event though. So, what are you wearing? You know you’re not allowed to do Halloween without a costume right? That’s practically illegal.”

Steve crossed his arms and gave her an unimpressed look. “I’ve got a costume,” he defended. “But that’s not important right now. What do you mean Tony didn’t deign to include you? Did he say something?”

“What? No, of course not. I’ve just never been invited to any of his gigs.”

“I’ll talk to him,” Steve said, an edge to his voice. “You’re our friend, you belong celebrating with us.”

“Don’t stress about it Cap, I’m just Jane’s minion, I know my place.”

Steve opened his mouth to retort, but Darcy glanced at her watch and interrupted him, a hand going to his arm. “Shoot, I gotta go. Have fun tonight! I wanna see pics of your costume tomorrow.” She didn’t give him a chance to say anything else before she was off and disappearing around the corner a second later.

 

5\. Christmas

“You look like Christmas threw up on you.”

Darcy looked up from Jane’s notes and raised a brow at Natasha casually leaning in the labs doorway. “Hi to you too. Jane’s not here.”

“Pity, I needed to know what she was planning on bringing to Christmas dinner.”

“I’ll make a note to have her call you,” Darcy sighed, picking up her pen again to get back to transcribing the notes in to understandable English.

“Don’t bother, I’ll find her later. I have to know, where did you get that outfit?” She gestured at her and gave a pointed raise of the brow. “Candy cane stripe leggings? A tinsel trimmed skirt? That sweater?”

Wordlessly, Darcy plucked her reindeer antler headband from the desk and slid it on.

“Somehow that actually makes the whole thing better,” Natasha said, coming in to the room properly. She cleared a space among the papers on Darcy’s desk and hopped up to take a seat, crossing her knees gracefully. “Since you’re here I can get your menu at least. I had you pegged for a desert. Pie?”

“What are you talking about?” Darcy asked, although she had a sinking feeling that she knew exactly what was happening.

At her tone, Natasha raised another brow at her. “Christmas dinner,” she said. “The team and friends. Tony said everyone had received their invitations and confirmed they were coming.”

Darcy gave a sigh and her shoulders slumped a degree. “Tony would be telling you the truth then, I assume.”

“So you’re not aware of this because you haven’t been invited?”

In an effort to hide her hurt, Darcy went for casual and shot a finger gun at Natasha, clicking her tongue. “Got it in one” she said, gaze firmly staying on the page she was reading so the shine in her eyes couldn’t be seen.

Natasha frowned but didn’t say anything, and when Darcy looked up half a minute later the woman had disappeared. That was probably a scary sign, and if Darcy was going to be around for more than another hour she’d be genuinely worried. But when she’d figured there was no reason for her to stick around with Jane for the holidays she’d made other plans, and that evening she was getting on a plane to meet up with her parents in the Bahamas and have the sunniest Christmas they possibly could.

 

+1. Darcy Day

Apart from a couple of short text messages wishing her friends a Happy Christmas, Darcy hadn’t had any communication with any of them the entire time she’d been away. It had been good to get away from everything and not feel like an unnecessary hanger-on for a couple of weeks.

She was coming back with a bit of a tan and a whole pile of knick knacks to decorate Jane’s lab with, and absolutely zero expectation that his new year was going to go any different for her, socially, than the previous had.

She’d only been back home for a few hours when there was a knock at the door. A glance at the clock and she frowned, wondering if Jane had forgotten her key, because there wasn’t any other reason she could think of for someone coming knocking this late.

“Hi?” Darcy asked, not recognising the man at her door.

“Ms Lewis?” He asked, and Darcy nodded nervously.

“The car is waiting for you,” he said with a nod and a small smile, gesturing behind him.

“Car?” She repeated. “What car? Who sent you?”

“Mr Stark requests your presence this evening. He said it was a matter of urgency.”

Confused, Darcy squinted at the guy, trying to figure out if this was some kind of trick. “Ok, just a minute,” she said, grabbing her bag and making sure her taser was in easy reach in the front pocket. She knew she wasn’t important or known enough to be at risk of a revenge kidnapping or anything, but it felt better to be a little prepared if things went south.

The driver headed in to Manhattan and Darcy watched as Stark Tower got closer. The car pulled to a stop and the driver jumped out to open her door, tipping his hat at her.

“Ms Lewis? This way please.” She started at the new voice and turned to see one of Stark’s security guards ushering her in from the front door of the tower.

More curious than ever Darcy headed in and was shown to the elevator. Not just any elevator, but the private elevator that went all the way to the penthouse.

“You sure this is the right one?” She half-joked, and the guard nodded.

“Absolutely Miss Lewis. This is for you also.” He handed her an envelope and then the elevator doors closed. The elevator started moving without any button-pushing from her, so Darcy ripped in to the mystery envelope.

The first thing she noticed were the large words emblazoned on the front of the card inside. You’re Invited! it proclaimed. Several seconds went by just staring at that. She finally flipped it open and a lump formed in her throat at the statement inside.

 

Darcy Lewis,  
You are cordially invited to appear as the guest of honour at a Stark Tower special event.  
Darcy Day. January 4th. 6pm.  
Your friends and family,  
The Avengers and Co

 

There wasn’t even time to properly process before the elevator dinged and slid open. She only got one step out before there was a loud cheer. The whole team beamed at her with glasses raised, and Darcy couldn’t wipe the smile from her face as she joined them.


End file.
